North Carolina: Autopsy Shows Inmate Died of Severe Dehydration

By The Associated Press

Sept. 25, 2014

A North Carolina inmate with severe mental illness died of thirst after being held in solitary confinement, an autopsy report said. The report, released Thursday by the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office, said that the inmate, Anthony Michael Kerr, died of severe dehydration. Mr. Kerr, 53, was found unresponsive in the back of a van on March 12 after being driven from Alexander Correctional Institution to the mental hospital at Central Prison in Raleigh. The State Department of Public Safety subsequently fired a captain and four nurses at Alexander. A nurse and a psychologist resigned. In her autopsy report, Dr. Lauren Scott, a pathologist, said state prison officials declined to give her information about the circumstances leading to Mr. Kerr’s death, including when he last had access to food and water.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 20 of the New York edition with the headline: North Carolina: Autopsy Shows Inmate Died of Severe Dehydration. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe